Wed, 10 Jun 2009

Yesterday evening, I was invited to speak about the DNA database and
my experience in getting on and then off it. The event was organised by the
Pan African Society Community Forum (PASCF)
and happened near Oval. Even with the tube strike starting at the same
time as my presentation the room filled up with what looked like more
than sixty people.

The black community is disproportionally represented on the
National DNA Database (NDNAD). As mentioned in the earlier post Sentenced to genetic probation,
figures compiled a few years ago show that 37% of black men have their DNA
profile on the database compared with 13% of Asian men and 9% of white
men. Data published last year indicate an increase in the number of DNA
profiles of black males to 42%. It is estimated that three quarters of
young black men aged between 15 and 34 have their DNA profiles on the
database. Innocent young black people are far more likely to be on the
database than innocent young white people.

Other speakers were Doreen Bishop speaking about her son Ricky
Bishop who died in police custody on 2001-11-22; Samantha
Rigg-David speaking about her brother Sean Rigg
who died in police custody on 2008-08-21; and Minkah
who was arrested and charged after enquiring about two white men, who
happened to be police officers, questioning a young black man, and who
spoke about stop and search and the involvement of the black community
in refusing this police violence. The meeting was very well chaired by
a kid from the Marcus Garvey Next Generation (MGNG), an
organisation for young African people who want to contribute to a
unified approach to tackling issues related to young people. It's great
to have people of all generations involved in such events. (Doreen,
Samantha and Minkah were speaking at the Stop the violence event last
month and you can find videos of their speech on Indymedia.)

Every year, usually on the last Saturday of October, the
United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC)
organises a silent procession along Whitehall. At last year's event a give away
listed the names of 2,533 individuals, whose name was known, who had
died since 1969 in the care of the Police, prisons, secure psychiatric
units and immigration detention centres. See the list in the post Deaths in custody & Jean
Charles de Menezes inquest.

There was great interest in practical measures: what to do to
get off the NDNAD, how to raise awareness of all the deaths in custody
(the Rigg family is holding a vigil outside Brixton police station
every Thursday), how to get more people out at demonstrations (the
United Campaign Against Police Violence (UCAPV)
will organise a protest at the IPCC on 2009-07-10), etc. It felt like
many of the attendees were keen to do more than just spend a Tuesday
evening hearing a few speakers; this is the aspect I found most
encouraging. Discussions continued well after the end of the formal
presentations, and the evening was both productive and very enjoyable.
To those who attended and may be reading this post, the website I
recommended is ReclaimYourDNA.org.